Monkies in the Water
by WickedArtist
Summary: AU, OC's up the wazoo. Abandoned and alone, Masaru's world is flipped upside down, ripped in two, and stomped on when a shinigami finds him. Chaos ensues. Lots of angst, a little humor, etc... Read A/N for explanation.
1. The Start of Something Brilliant

**A/N: **_Because I've always been a huge fan of Bleach RPs, I've decided to make a more in-depth story for my characters which has a few more plot twists—as in freeform RPGs, plot twists are often known as godmoding unless vigorously preplanned. Aside from this, I do not have the power to initiate a timeskip, thus I cannot employ the character growth I want in the amount of time I want (it would indeed be hard to live two hundred years). Here lies the story of two of my characters, Taketa Masaru, and Aosawa Kaki. Many OCs will be placed in this story, many of which are based off of OCs from the RP I've been in. This story begins from the eyes of Masaru, and will remain from the eyes of Masaru, and only from the eyes of Masaru.. Enjoy, and please do review when you're finished. Critique is always appreciated. As a note, I've taken a few assumptions on the bleach universe since Kubo Tite has not fully informed us on his universe:_

_**Rukongai:**_

_*Citizens in the rukongai—or Soul Society in general—age at a ten to one proportion. Meaning that years are counted the same as on Earth, but the aging process of people has slowed to ten percent. _

_*Most people do not have reiatsu and thus there are few restaurants in the rukongai._

_*People pay for water—this was implied in the manga/anime flashback._

_More to be added as I get to it. New words in Japanese will be put in italics.  
_

_

* * *

_

Cold. My eyes squeeze shut, I shiver. Chills needn't run down my spine. My spine is already frozen. I am frozen. I've taken shelter in this tiny little hovel, this dilapidated mess. Yet snow finds its way through the holes in the roof, the broken paper windows. Winter in this district has never been easy. This winter seems the coldest yet. How long have I been here? Alone? At least a year. It has to have been a year. And it's been the longest year of my life—I feel like an old man now. Rambling to himself. I am a lonely old man by now, am I not?

I've never been very big, just a little scrawny boy. I know that my father was a shinigami, and that my mother threw me out as soon as I was old enough to walk. At first, I was able to pick little scraps out from kind strangers—this hunger is a tiny gift from my father, but it's really a curse. I'm the only person from my district who gets hungry. I'm always weak. Sometimes it's from fear and sometimes it's from hunger. The thing is, when I started getting older, the men in my district grew less sympathetic. They would chase me out of their huts, and they would beat me if they caught me trying to take food or water from them without paying my dues. I ran to the outskirts of the district, where I found this ramshackle hovel, falling apart at the seams, a door that will not slide shut unless you force it, broken paper windows and a roof that leaks horrendously.

But this is home, and it's my home. No one else wants me.

I shut my eyes. Maybe I'll die, and maybe it will be the end of me. Maybe I'll freeze to death in my sleep—peaceful, painless. Maybe I'll die a slow, painful death while I'm awake, suffering from hypothermia and starvation. As the icy world around my fades away, as I drift to a frigid slumber, I know I won't dream. I never do. I haven't had a dream since I was thirty-seven.

"_Oi, gaki_," I hear. I let out a tiny groan. I'm far too tired to care that there's a person in my hut… a person… in… my hut…

_There's a person in my hut?_

"_Gaki,_" the voice says, "You still breathin'?"

I'm too lost in the fact that there's a person in my hut, and when I open my eyes, sure enough, it's a man, and he's tall! He has to be at least six feet tall, but that's speaking lightly! His feet are huge! His footprints are big enough for two of my feet to stand toe to heel within them! I throw myself up against the wall, staring at him in horror. I open my mouth to speak, but I just don't have a voice anymore. It's raw and hushed from disuse. All that comes out is a tiny whimper.

"Eh?" The man mumbles, confused. I look at his face, but all I see is a shadowed silhouette. The morning sun is blocked out from behind him and we are encased in shadow. I can't get a good look at his face, and I doubt he can get a good look at mine. I'm sure my cheeks are blue by this point; my fingers must be frozen through. I can't even feel them. Slowly, I edge away from the man until my back meets the wall and a panel of wood falls off and lands right beside me. _Crunch._ There's snow on the back of it. "_Oi, gaki,_ I'm not gonna hur'cha."

"_N-nani?"_ I squeak.

"Y'heard me, I'm not gonna hur'cha," the man repeated. "It ain't m'job to go 'round beatin' up little kids."

I nod, slowly, though I don't understand.

"Geez, _gaki_, ain't ya freezin'?" he asks, raising a brow. I nod again, and he walks towards me. I notice he's wearing a scarf, and just now it registers that he's wearing gloves, and a _sakkat_. Lucky bastard—he doesn't have to go barefoot. He has tabi and they have to be warmer than I am. He extends a hand to me. I jump; I smack my head against the wall. _He_ cringes. "Oi, _chibi,_ don't hur'ch'ur'self."

Realizing that I'm not about to stand up, he reaches down and yanks me to my feet, looking down to see that I'm barefoot. "Ah, _kami._ Ye'r gonna kill yer feet that way."

I look down dejectedly, and he chuckles nervously.

"Dun worry 'bout it," he laughs, picking me up and letting me hang off of his back. He hooks one of my arms around his neck and tells me not to let go. The next thing I know, I feel like we've just moved at the speed of light.

Away from the broken hut which I once considered my hell of a home, my first thought is, _K-kuso, what the hell is this guy gonna do?

* * *

_

Turns out, Teketa-san was actually bringing me several districts up, where he found a ramen stand. I now stare at the bowl put in front of me: the biggest amount of food I'd ever seen in one place at once. _W-wow._

"Gee, _chibi_, I was out patrollin' for a hollow and all I found was a little kid," he laughs cordially. "Good thing y'have some reiatsu or I might not've found ya." He leans over me, grinning profusely. "_Oi, oi,_ eat some, it's great. I had some on the way out there."

I look at the bowl, and then back to Taketa-san. He's a tall man, and well-built at that. His skin is lightly tanned, like he spends all day outside and under the sun, compared to my pallid complexion. His gray eyes are kind of narrow, and a long scar runs across one of his eyebrows. His hair is cropped close to his head, and the color reminds me of tree bark. He's given me his long gray scarf, and I notice he's got a tattoo running up his neck—some sort of tribal pattern.

"_Arigatou_, Taketa-san," I say, looking to my bowl and reaching for my chopsticks. However, by the time my hand reaches where my chopsticks had been placed, they're gone! Taketa-san has already snatched them up and broken them, and now he's clicking them together in front of my face. "_O-oi_, no fair!"

"Who says I play fair, eh, _chibi_?" he laughs, shutting his eyes. I take the opportunity to snatch my chopsticks free, except he's got an iron grip on the damn things. He opens his eyes and chuckles, sticking my chopsticks into my ramen. "Go ahead, _chibi_, eat."

I oblige, and as I eat, Taketa-san and the _tenchou_ talk about the weather, the hollow activity, and how the other's been. They know each other then. I don't think into it too much, and I focus way more on eating this ramen. Taketa-san said it was great, but I beg to differ. It's the best thing in the world. I devour it voraciously, and I know I'm attracting stares but I don't even care anymore. I'm hungry. I'm starving. I've never seen so much food in one place, and who knows, it may never come again! I've gotta get my fill _now_.

However, just as I finish, I feel Taketa-san's eyes on me. I look to him and cock my head to the side, wiry strands of gray hair falling to the side. "_Nani_?"

"Ye'r eatin'… a bit too fast," Taketa observed, beads of sweat dripping down his incredulous face. "I mean, I know it's good an' all… but don'cha think ye'r overdoin' it?"

I blink in response.

"Y-er, ah, when's the last time ya've had a good meal?" he asks.

I look up, trying to remember. "Uh," I stammer, "I think a few weeks ago I found a sack of nuts someone dropped on the ground."

Now Taketa-san looks like a chibi. His head inflates as he looks at me. I shrug and return to the ramen, which I eat—albeit, I eat slower now. Apparently I shouldn't eat so fast, so I guess it can't hurt to slow down a bit. When I next peek to the side, Taketa-san has a large bowl of ramen himself, and he eats it slowly, savoring it. I look down at my Ramen—it's almost gone, but I'm still hungry. I even go as far to say as I feel a bit bloated, but I still want more. I finish my ramen, bringing the bowl to my lips and drinking it all down.

I wait for Taketa-san to finish before I say, "My name's Masaru."

Taketa-san looks up from his ramen, setting the bowl down after a long swig of the miso. In response, he grins and replies, proudly, "Taketa Maeru."

I nod.

I don't know, but this is the start of something brilliant—no, I don't know it but I can feel it. This is the start of something wonderful, and I look up to Maeru. The man grins, eyes shutting in his relaxed state. "Let's move out, _Saru-chibi_."

"I am not a midget!" I squeak. Point… not made as well as I would have liked. Maeru laughs, but he leads me off and our journey, I realize, has only just begun. I smile as we leave, the afternoon sun peaking through the mountains of clouds and shining off of the snow, casting a brilliant shine into my own crystal blue eyes, and into his caramel brown ones. Rags to riches, I wonder? Maybe not quite so drastic, but out of the fire and off the stove. I turn to Maeru with a stupid, lopsided grin. He smiles to me, and I've never felt more at home. I've never felt at home, but now I know what it feels like. I want this to last.

It will.

**A/N:** _So review! I love getting your feedback, and there's nothing more helpful than knowing what I have to improve on._

_Japanese vocabulary:_

_Oi - Hey_

_Gaki - Brat/Kid_

_Nani - What[?]_

_Sakkat - A straw hat (the kind that Shunsui wears)_

_Tabi - Those socks you see the shinigami wearing_

_Kami - God_

_Chibi - Midget_

_Saru-Chibi - Maeru's nickname for Masaru. Basically, "Midget Monkey."  
_


	2. The Start of Something Chaotic

**A/N:** _Written because I've got nothing better to do than distract myself from my biology homework. Procrastination for the win._

* * *

"Hah?" I croak, peering up at Maeru.

"Do I gotta say it again?" he groans, rubbing the back of his head. "For the third time, Saru-chibi, either ya gotta go back there or ya gotta join the shinigami academy. I can't just take ya with me!"

I frown. "I'd be really bad at it."

"How old are you?" he asks me, placing a giant paw on my head and turning my from side to side as if I'm a doll, incapable of doing so myself. "Eh, ye'r really puny so it's hard to tell… lemme guess… a hundred ten some?"

"But I'd be really bad!" I protest, swatting his hand away with a flick of my wrist. He releases me, then grins. My arms fold over my chest, and they only barely conceal the fact that I'm shivering beneath my kimono. "I mean, just because I have some reiatsu doesn't mean I'd be any good at it!"

"That's why it's an academy," Maeru chortled, smacking his enormous paw onto my tiny back. I jolt with the pressure—he didn't hurt me, but he did shock me. I know he's not trying to hurt me. If he were, I'd be dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead—and did I mention dead?

He smiles at me. "Y'go to learn."

"But I'll be really, really ba—"

"_Baka_, say that again and I'm gonna drag ya back to yer district and tie ya to a tree," he cuts me off, glaring down at me so fiercely that I have no doubt in my mind that he will. I'm shivering, pressed against the ground as he stands over me. I must truly look like a chibi at this point. "Look, I'm not tryin' to make ya into a _taichou_ er anythin' stupid like that," he says, straightening out and rubbing the back of his head. He turns his back to me as he continues, "I'm not sayin' ye'r gonna be a prodigy, but ya won't have to starve again, and ya won't have t'be so damn scared of ev'ryone. Y'don't have to be great. Hell, I dun care if ye'r a genius or a moron. Masaru, if y'stay here, if y'stick with bein' a shinigami, ya won't have to go back ever again."

I look to the ground, eyes lowered and body loose, as though his words were a fire and I was ice. His speech had melted me. As I stare at my feet, now clothed in tabi and sandals, I begin to consider the offer. If I go, if I listen to Maeru-san, I'll never have to go back to that hell again, I'll never have to starve again. I had nothing when I was in the rukongai, so I have nothing to go back to if I fail. I've got nothing to lose by doing this, but everything to gain. Maeru might even by right. Maybe this will help. Maybe I could be something better if I become a shinigami. Maybe I'll be able to get ramen every day, and carry a sword, and beat up bad guys and save little kids like me! I smile. I don't notice that Maeru's turned around until I feel a hand on top of my head, and I look up to see that he's smiling at me.

"Maeru-san," I murmur, meekly, "where do I sign up?"

He looks at me for a moment, and bursts out into laughter. I can't help but follow, and the next thing I know we're rolling on the ground, laughing like a pair of idiots. We are idiots, though. He's an idiot for being so persistent, and I'm an idiot for giving in. But who knows, maybe this will turn out alright.

* * *

This form is going to drive me insane! Name of mother, name of father, I don't even know anymore! Should I just put "N/A?" Maybe I should put "unknown" instead. Or I could just write "absent," or something. I'm not sure anymore. I'll put absent. Yeah.

District. That's an easy one. Sixty-eight, northern rukongai: _Kyuuso_.

Height. They told me I was four foot seven. For weight, they told me I was barely sixty pounds.

Surname… I don't know. I can't think of anything. As I think about it, the closest thing I've ever had to family is Maeru-san. So I put his name down. Taketa. His name is placed under guardian, the relationship is put as "_Onii-san_."

* * *

The funny thing is that when I take the entrance test, the first thing they tell me to do is form a ball of reiatsu in my hand. I frown; what did he mean by that? So I hold out my hand, and I try to focus on it. I start writing the kanji in my mind, trying to see if that will help any—I doubt it will, but much to my surprise my reiatsu flares up, and right there in the palm of my hand is a fire of a crystal-blue aura that I swear will travel up my arm and sear my face—yet it doesn't. I jump back, shaking it off of my hand and yell, "Ayiee!"

The proctor blinks at me. He's as taken aback as I am, maybe even more so. He doesn't speak though, he writes something else down and then hands me more paperwork. Oh joy, more paperwork.

_This looks more like an exam though_. I take it in my hand and scan over it. I fill it out the best I can, guessing half the answers, then hand it to the proctor.

"Gee, gaki, took you long enough," he mutters, peering at the exam. "Got a place to stay?"

"Um, no," I answer, rubbing the back of my neck sheepishly.

"Any plans?"

"No."

"Money?"

"No."

"Do you have anything at all?"

"Not really," I say sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck still.

He stares at me, incredulously. He opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again. And opens it again. This time, he stutters out some words: "Y-you said you have a brother on your paperwork. Does he have any place to stay?"

I point to the gargantuan city behind him, walled in and nigh impenetrable. Sereitei.

He blinks at me. After another failed attempt at speech, he asks, "How old is your brother?"

I shrug.

"Is he really your brother?"

"I think so," I answer without hesitation, "Maeru-san's the closest I ever got to family."

I don't understand the point of these questions. As far as I'm concerned, I have a brother and a caring, loving one at that. He saved me, he treated me to ramen at _every_ place along the way. It sure was shocking to him to see me eat so much, but I guess he got used to it by the end. Maybe he's not quite like the father I've been longing to find, but he was definitely a brother to me. I'll take it.

"Well, that's very, uh, nice… Masaru-kun," he finally murmurs, looking at paperwork. I can tell what he's thinking just by looking at him. _This kid's a looney._ He's probably right, too.

"So uh, why don't you and your um, brother go find a place to spend the night, and just come back here in the morning. We'll tell you whether you made it or not," he explains.

I nod, thank the man, and leave. When I exit the building, standing in the middle of the road before me is my surrogate brother, who smiles at me and I smile back. My smile, however, is melancholy. "I'm gonna fail."

He stands there, jaw dropped as he looks at me. "Y—how bad did it go?"

"Horrible."

He pats me on the shoulder and shakes his head. "Ah, come on, _Saru-chibi_, don't be like that. I'm sure y'did fine."

I laugh nervously, pushing his hand off of my shoulder. I look up to him, and I shake my head. "I screamed like a girl when they told me to make a ball of reiatsu."

"Never done that before?" he chortles, shrugging his shoulders.

I grin, lopsidedly, "No, and I thought it was gonna set me on fire."

"Hah!" he laughs. "At least ya didn't fail completely! Took me six tries to get into the academy and ten more to graduate."

"Really?" I ask, incredulous.

"Nah, only took me six years to graduate," he laughs. I just stare.

* * *

"_Ko-ke-ko-ko-o!_"

Stupid rooster. It won't stop crowing. Hell, it's not even my rooster. It's one of the residents. I—morning! Crack of dawn! I'm late!

"I'm late!" I exclaim, rolling off my futon and promptly smacking my face into the ground. Ow… ow… ow… "_I-itai_."

I struggle to my feet, then start running in place. I'm about to run out the door half-naked, but then I realize I need clothes. I reach into my bag, pull out my only kimono (tan with a tan lining. Grand, I know), and slip it on, tying the obi as tightly as possible. I slip on my tabi, then my sandals, I throw my scarf on and out I run. As soon as I'm out, I run right back in, only to find that Maeru's standing right in front of me already, glowering down at me. He has bags under his eyes, a sign of little sleep. So do I, actually.

"Baka, it's five in the mornin'. Y'don't gotta be there til six."

I slowly start to smile, and then the next thing I know I'm on the floor, laughing so hard that I can't catch my breath. Tears form in my eyes as I lay on the ground, choking on my laughter. Maeru doesn't seem nearly as amused.

"Baka," he grumbles, walking back into the inn's room and—I'm sure, going back to sleep. I stare into our room, very plain, just a pair of futons, a table, and a set of cushions under the table.

_Maybe Maeru's just not a morning person._

I decide to head towards the academy anyways, but I take care to heat some water in a pot to wash my hair in. I lie with my neck pressed against the edge of the pot while my hair soaks. My fingers run through it, working out the knots and matted areas.

As I sit here, I wonder about what Maeru thinks of me. Does he really think I could make it as a shinigami? Or does he just want to throw me back into a different sort of fire? Maybe he genuinely cares for me and maybe taking me along with him was a genuine act of charity. Maybe that's all I am to him. A charity case. I frown. It seems just about right; he probably only took me with him because I was too pitiful to ignore. I was alone, freezing in that tiny shack. Maybe he took me because of a pang of sympathy, and maybe it was actually his job to pick up stray rats like me.

I frown as I take my head out of the water. My hair slicks back and sticks to my head and neck, still a perpetually tousled mess. I don't mind. I pick up the pot of water, bring it outside and dump it on the frozen ground, watching as it soon cools and freezes over.

With a sigh, I reenter the inn, walk to our room, and throw my bag over my shoulder. I don't have time to wait for my hair to dry, so I just hope it'll try on the way there.

"See ya," I mumble to Maeru. So I walk.

* * *

"Shishirio Minami," the proctor calls out. The first girl walks forward, and I stare at her with wide eyes. She's pretty. Her hair is like silk, flowing behind her back as she walks, her face is pale as the moon, her eyes are a striking violet. I think I'm in love. I can't help but stare as she steps forward and bows, accepting the certificate from the proctor before she enters the building.

"Takeda Isamu," he calls. This one walks forward, a silver-haired lad with worn and tired gray eyes. He wears a relaxed smile as he accepts the certificate from the proctor and steps forward. I hold no opinion of him.

"Mitani Hinata," he calls. A orange-haired girl steps up. She wears a long, red scarf, and her eyes are a light blue. Her hair's worn behind her in a long braid, two picks adorning her hair. She's at least ten years older than I am.

"Noribo Raiden," he calls. Another boy steps up, and he's a lanky adolescent, tousled black hair and brown eyes. He's at least six feet tall, but he's a wiry fellow who can't weigh much at all. He takes the certificate and enters the building.

"Mideki Sataro, Mideki Shigeo, Mideki Mayako," two more boys and a girl, all identical. One has neatly cropped hair, the other shares this, but the girl wears it cropped in a bob around her head. I'm beginning to despair. I don't pay attention to the next group of names he calls. "Kuroshi Sora, Shiroyama Kuroba, Ito Ishi, Izunuri Hata…"

I'm biting my lower lip, staring up at the man as more faces and more certificates pass me by. More names are called. They're calling us by our test scores, I know, and I'm horribly nervous. At least sixteen more names are called before I hear, "Taketa Masaru."

I stand there, frozen in place. He doesn't call another name, he just motions for me to step forward. I walk up to him, each step like climbing a mountain, and I slowly raise a hand to accept the certificate. I stare at it blankly for a moment. I don't know if I'm terrified or overjoyed.

_I… I made it._

Irritated with my blubbering, the proctor extends an arm, grabs my shoulder, and shoves me roughly into the next building, where I stand like a moron in the doorway. Hours pass, or so it seems, before I'm brought back to reality by the orange haired girl—Hinata.

"Oi, baka," she snaps, "Are you gonna move or just stand there like a dumbass all day?" When I don't reply, she grabs my scarf and hauls me forward.

"Aie! Ah, ah, watch it, watch it, ow, let me go! ITAI!" I wail as she hauls me by the scarf, elbowing me in… the groin… when she gets irritated by it. I stop kicking.

"Oi, dropout, don't just sit there like a dumbass," she grumbles, pulling me. "Start movin' they're giving us a lecture."

I'm not sure what to think, but this can't turn out well.

* * *

**A/N: **_So there you have it. Masaru's now getting dragged by one mean twelve-year-old girl. And he took the first nut-shot of the fic. Wow. :3 _

_Japanese Vocabulary:_

_Taichou – Captain_

_Kyuuso – Cornered rat/mouse_

_Ko-ke-ko-ko-o – The sound roosters make in Japan_

_Itai – Basically, "OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"_

_:D TEEHEE!_


	3. The Start of Something Amazing

"Listen up, each and every one of you!" orders the proctor. It's the same man who oversaw my test. He's kind of short, though not as short as I am. He's bald, got tanned skin and brown eyes. Boring? Apparently, I'd gotten the lowest score—not that I minded. I got in, even if I'm in at the bottom of the heap… maybe that's not a good thing. Oh, wait, he's still talking. "…And so, I congratulate you on passing your exam. One student received a perfect score on her written exam, and so I would like to congratulate Minami! Exceptional from a rukongai citizen, eh?"

My eye twitches.

"In any case! I wish you all luck on your time at the _Shinoreijutsuin_! Study hard, and train hard!"

That said, several students start clapping. Soon, the rest of the crowd joins in enthusiastically—though how sincere the enthusiasm is I can only guess. I don't clap, and neither does the girl who dragged me in here just minutes ago. She's been sitting next to me this whole time and I barely even noticed. She sits with a scowl etched upon her features. I have to wonder what her problem is.

"They give the same speech every year," she grumbles. "Onii-sama knows it word for word by now."

"Onii-sama?" I question, cocking my head.

"Oh, you probably call them Onii-chan or something," she explains with a roll of her head. "I'm a _Mitani_, baka. If I'm caught calling my Onii-sama 'Onii-chan,' or even 'Onii-san,' Otou-sama will kill me."

"Oh."

"Lemme guess, Rukongai?" Hinata barks sarcastically. I nod in response. "Lucky."

"_Lucky_?" I repeat with shock. "How the hell is that lucky?"

"You don't have to live up to anyone's expectation because everyone's expecting you to fail," Hinata explains, looking towards me as though I were made of gold. "You can prove them wrong and they'll all be at your feet. If I succeed, I can only meet their expectations—all I get is, "As expected of a Mitani." If I fall just a tiny bit short of what everyone else expects, I'm a disgrace. If you fall short of what everyone else expects, you're dead. And if you don't die, you've succeeded."

My mouth forms a soft "O" as I realize what she's said to me. She told me that she envies me. And the thing is, she's right. I've survived when no one else thought I would or wanted to help me. I made it that far without any aid, and now that I've come here with some help, I still got pretty far on my own. I think I have, right? I mean, I'm at the bottom of the heap, so that's not good, but hey, I tried, and I did succeed a little, right?

Then she smacks me upside the head and I fly off my chair and crash into the ground. "Itaaaaaaiiiiiii!"

"Baka, everyone's leaving. Are you just gonna sit there like a moron?" she growls, fist still clenched in the air. Her crystalline eyes glint with a fury that terrifies me as I sink further against the ground with a tiny squeak.

I don't think I like this girl.

"_H-hai_," I gasp like a fish out of water.

She smiles innocently (yeah right), and jumps over her chair, trotting after the students. Her braid swings merrily behind her. By the time I stand up, the proctor's standing over me.

"Taketa-san, was it?" he repeats, looking down at me with disgust. I nod. "I realize you're a slow one, but try not to slow everyone else down—especially not one of the top students."

"Huh?" I ask, staring up at him. That's insulting.

He glares at me coldly, and as he walks away, he explains, "One rotten apple spoils the bushel, you know. I just don't want your stupidity to spread. Meet back here tomorrow, will you? We'll be assigning classes."

As he leaves me alone in the empty auditorium, I stand bewildered in the doorway. A stinging bruise is forming on my jaw, but I don't really mind too much. I 'm more concerned about the attack at my pride.

_What pride?_ I remind myself, looking down at the floor dejectedly. I swear, I'm gonna cry. The lump in my throat won't go down.

Maybe Hinata was right about me not having to fear failure, since all I really have to do to fail is die, but maybe if I had a little more going for me I'd be ok right now. Maybe I wouldn't have been judged so quickly, maybe the proctor wouldn't have basically spat in my face.

I wipe my wrist across my eyes, though I haven't actually shed any tears yet. My wrist is moist. The salt stings a little cut I got a week or so back, but I don't mind. I look down at the floor as I drag myself from the room, out into the open where I find Maeru staring at me.

"I saw ya got in last… Got the dropout pep talk?" he asks.

I look up to him, and he sees my face. He sighs, and motions for me to come closer. "I get the same speech from Kuchiki-taichou every time we get new meat from the academy. Don't let it bug ya too much."

I nod.

* * *

Normally, I would never even dream of drinking sake. Now I'm not too sure. Maeru's got a bottle in front of him, and he's offered me a dish. I stare at it for a moment. Eh, what the hell? I reach forward and take it. I sip it… I swish it around in my mouth a little.

"BLEH!" I spit all over Maeru. "Th-that's disgusting!"

He's not amused. He glares at me for a moment, then shrugs as he grabs a towel and wipes some of the sake off of his face and neck. "Then don't drink it, baka."

"I didn't!"

"Well don't spit it on me," he mutters, tossing the towel at me with enough force to knock me back and off of my cushion. I smack on the floor, but I don't bother getting up.

"Geez, Saru-chibi," he grumbles, taking a swig of the sake, "Y'need to lighten up a bit. Nobles pick on Rukongai rats; that's how it goes."

I frown at the ceiling. There's a small hole in it, and a bird peeks through before flying away. "Rukongai rats look down on me," I sigh. "Is that how it goes?"

"Damn straight," he growls, gulping down more sake and pouring more from his gourd into his dish as he speaks. "The higher up they are, the closer to nobility they are. See, people from this district 'ere may as well be royalty compared to people from where you are."

"So basically I'm the rat shit?" I grumble. Maeru nods before taking another swig of sake. "_Great_."

"_Sure is_," he agrees with heavy sarcasm.

I stand up, and when he doesn't ask where I'm going, I feel just a bit annoyed. "Don't you have to go back to sereitei?"

"Eh, Kuchiki-taichou won't miss me," he dismisses the question, sipping more sake. I roll my eyes and step outside of the room. I need a break.

When I step outside, however, I'm a bit shocked by what I see. There's a man in a _shihakusho_, like Maeru's, and he's wearing a haori over it. I stare at him. He's wearing a white haori, bloodied and torn. His hair is spiked up like a giant star, his face is long and scarred. A long sword sits in a sheath on his hip.

I've never been so terrified in my life.

I was gonna go for a walk, but now I kind of want to hide under the floorboards of the inn. I can't move, though. It feels like a crushing pressure has appeared just because that man showed up. He's walking towards the sereitei too. For a brief second, his lone eye flickers towards me, but he dismisses me quickly and keeps walking.

Is this a taichou?

"_K-kami_," I mutter as he walks away. The further he gets away from me, the lighter the pressure gets. I stand in front of the inn until he's completely gone. The second he's gone, I let out a puff of air and walk in the opposite direction.

_That was anything but refreshing_, I think.

* * *

Today, we're moving into our rooms. Maeru's been joking that now that I'm gone he won't have a pet monkey to drag around anymore, and I don't think it's funny. He's been joking, "Little Saru-chibi might not be so tiny next time I see 'im." I don't think it's funny at all. He laughs as he reenters Sereitei, leaving me alone in front of the shinoreijutsuin. But still, it's better than if he had left me alone in the freezing snow.

I guess I owe him a thank you.

* * *

Sure enough, they don't really give us rooms so much as they give us bunks and small chests to hold our clothes. They keep us separated slightly walls keeping us in groups of six. I guess that's so that we don't have to worry about being watched sleeping. I've never had a bed before—not since I was a baby anyways. I look up at the loft bed, and instantly decide the top bunk has to be better. I'd rather sleep on a loft than on the ground again. Just as I reach for the ladder, though—

"I call top bunk!"

And then I feel a foot on the top of my head as the silver-haired boy, Isamu, jumps over my head and onto the top bunk, bags and all. My jaw drops. "Y-y-you…"

"M-m-me?" he laughs, smirking down at me. He's even standing on the bed as though he'd just climbed a formidable mountain and is enjoying the view.

"I was gonna take that," I mumble.

"Well y'shoulda called it," he laughs, rolling onto his back and lying down on the top bunk, using his bag as a pillow. "I called it first."

"D-do I have to bunk with you, or can I take the one next to you?"

"Pretty sure you have to bunk with me," he says, "That's why they gave us numbers."

"Well, can we trade numbers?" I ask. He looks at me like I'm stupid—I'm getting really tired of people doing that—and then dismisses the question. He lies back on his bed and stares at the ceiling contentedly. "So no then?"

"You're kinda weird," he murmurs, reaching into his bag and removing a book. He opens it up and flips through it aimlessly.

I frown. "So are you."

"You're not getting this bunk," he warns me, turning a gray eye my way. Somehow I'm not as intimidated as I would have been a week ago—after seeing that guy walking down the street, after that nearly gave me a heart attack, I don't find him as horrifying. "Just take the bottom; you're small, you're not gonna hit your head or anything."

I suppose the following sigh is one of submission, because I look into my bag—there's nothing in it other than my new uniform and the scarf Maeru lent me. I forgot to give it back. I shrug as I sit down on the bunk, staring at the floor.

"Got any family?" he asks me. I look up to him curiously, though I can't see past the bunk.

"Not really," I murmur. "Not blood-related if that's what you mean."

"Nothing at all?" he asks, peeking down at me.

"Well, I have Maeru-san," I say with a shrug, looking up at him. His eyes remain forever relaxed, which irritates me to no end. He looks at me funny, and then I add, "He's the shinigami who found me."

"That's not family," he said with a laugh. "Family gets you connections."

"I took his surname," I say with a shrug.

He laughs a bit, then rolls back onto his bed. "I'm Isamu, in case you forgot."

"Masaru," I mumble.

"Hah! Monkey," he laughs.

"Shut up!"

Two more boys enter our dorm room, and these are the twins. Like I said before, they have hair cropped to their heads, like it was shaved off and then someone let it grow back a bit. They look like sheared sheep though. Their hair isn't straight like Maeru's, it's gotta be curly.

"The Mideki twins are here!" one of them announces. The other one smacks him upside the head. "Itai!"

"Baka, don't make a scene," the other one grumbles.

"Aww, Shigeo, you never let me have any fun," Sataro whines, walking up to the bed and climbing up the ladder. The other—Shigeo—sits down on the bottom bunk.

"Ah shit, we got the dropout and the second-rate noble."

Isamu glares at Sataro—or at least I think he does. "This second-rate noble's gonna kick your ass if you say that again."

I look up at Isamu. He's not happy.

"Please, you'd get your ass kicked by dropout over there," Sataro quips. I narrow my eyes. He laughs at this, pointing at me. "Hey look, I think he's pissed!"

"No shit," I growl.

"Knock it off, baka," a new voice calls. I look to the side, and two more boys walk in. The one who spoke looks mainly at Sataro. "Ishi, and if any of you make any smartass quips about the rukongai, I'll kick your ass."

"Says the dropout," the other quips.

Looking at them, Ishi is a tall lad, at least six feet tall. He's reached his adolescence if nothing else. He's tall, his skin is lightly tanned, his eyes are brown as chocolate. His hair is black, slicked back and spiked at the end in a duck-butt kind of cut. The other boy, nameless, is short by comparison, only four feet tall—just over half a foot shorter than I am. He's not scrawny or gangly like me though, and his hair is neatly parted down the middle, and falls to his chin. His eyes are black. I don't like either one of them.

"Shiroyama-san to you," he murmurs. Kuroba, then.

I yawn as I fall back into my bed. Above me, I hear Isamu remark, "At least I don't have to bunk with you four. That would suck."

"So I guess bunking with the dropout isn't so bad?" I chime in.

"Course; I need a little butler anyways," he laughs. This makes my brow twitch.

With a sardonic smirk, I look up to him with an expression that screams, 'well fuck you too.' He chuckles and goes back to bed. I roll into place as the others find their bunks (Ishi claims the top bunk on account of being taller).

The lights go out.

I fall asleep.

* * *

I hate waking up in the morning. Of all people, Isamu wakes me up, tapping me on the forehead until I can ignore it no longer. My feeble groaning and brushing his hand away have only succeeded in making him poke me harder. I've had enough. I open my eyes, and this time I grab his wrist. "I get it."

Isamu smiles at me. How can he be so laid-back? "Ok, ok, no need to be a girl about it."

"You're the girl," I grumble, sitting up and tossing his hand back at him. Of course, it's his hand, so he catches it and waves at me.

"Right, like any girl would wanna talk to you," he jokes with a grin. I glare at him.

* * *

We shower in cold water.

* * *

We eat cold food.

* * *

We exchange cold glances.

* * *

We sit in cold rooms.

* * *

By the end of the day, I'm about ready to rip my hair out. Everything's freezing. Even me. I'm freezing. More than anyone else, at that. Hinata, when she saw me at breakfast, told me that they do this on the first day every year. Sort of a cold welcome, but alright. It's better than where I was.

Though it doesn't make much sense, Ishi's the nicest one of all of my roommates. He's also the only one actually in a class with me, which is a bit disappointing. I guess we really are the dropouts. Three of the others tease us about it, but I don't mind so much anymore. Ishi's about ready to throw some punches, and hell, when I learn how, I might even cause some damage.

I guess I'm just not used to fighting yet.

I'm hoping that will change about me.

This is the start of something amazing; this is the start of Taketa Masaru.

**A/N:** _So there you have it! Masaru's growin' up! *sniff sniff* I'm just kidding, he's not gonna be a completely different character overnight. However, this is the last of my, "The start of something," chapters. So now you don't have to read the same thing over and over and over while searching through chapters; lucky you. In any case, even though I haven't gotten many hits or any reviews, I'm hoping that will start to change. I. Love. Reviews. You can even troll me if you like. I don't mind~!_

_Vocab:_

_Shinoreijutsuin – Shinigami Academy_

_Hai – Yes_

_Kami - God  
_

_Kuchiki-taichou – Yes, I mean Byakun 8D_


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